Astron is one of Australasia’s largest processors of plastic waste. Every year the company converts millions of kilograms of plastic waste into recycled plastic resin, recycled slip sheets and AS4702 underground cable covers. Last month the East Tamaki plant commissioned a new machine from Europe, which is able to take plastic bags in at one end, clean them, and spit out plastic chips at the other end.  

Being at the forefront of plastic recycling for over 30 years, Astron naturally went to the very experienced European market to source the new machinery capable of this recycling process. The machine suppliers in turn specified the extraction needed to deal with the dust that the cleaning process generates. NZ Duct+Flex specified a DUST STORM DS20 Pulse filter from JKF in Denmark to do that job in the safest, and most environmentally and energy efficient way in keeping with Astron’s own ideals.
The recommended JKF unit with PowerPulse is the world’s most energy efficient compressed air pulse cleaning system. Features include:

• Cleaning - PowerPulse controls the filter automatically, monitoring differential pressure, only initiating a cleaning cycle if it detects the filter cartridges need cleaning. This obviously saves large amounts of compressed air as the usual units just pulse air every 30 seconds or so, also reducing wear and tear on the filter cartridges.
• Pulse Control - PowerPulse also controls the force of the cleaning by monitoring the filter performance and so adjusts automatically the total amount and even the ‘force’ of the pulse between two and five bar. More compressed air is saved with reduction in wear of the bags.
• Single bag cleaning - PowerPulse cleans each bag individually giving precise accurate and consistent cleaning to the whole filter bag system and maintaining the extraction level at its maximum as only one cartridge is being cleaned out of 20 at any one time.

PowerPulse has been shown to save between 50-90% of the compressed air used by other systems. The fan is also controlled by a variable speed drive, again saving energy, and if new machinery is added, to increase suction immediately. The filter needs no intervention: it will adjust to suit the dust load by automatically sensing it’s dust build up.
The JKF DS20 units include a ATEX approved explosion venting  system. This simply means, in the unlikely event of an explosion in the dust filter, the unit releases any explosion that might otherwise damage the filter unit and cause parts to damage equipment, the building or staff.

Joseph Price, Operations Manager at the East Tamaki, Auckland site commented: “All the features of this unit are attractive. Its safety, long term running costs, the energy and environmental considerations. When our company is a leader in recycling and conservation, it’s important not only to talk about the environment but action those ideals.

For more information on the range of dust filtration offered by the company visit the website